


As Twilight Fades

by Senna



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 03:36:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senna/pseuds/Senna
Summary: After getting hurt Sora finds himself dreaming once more. (Post-3DS)





	As Twilight Fades

Sora opened his eyes.

He pushed himself upright, rubbing his eyes as he tried to take in his surroundings – but there was nothing to take in. No matter what direction he turned there was nothing but endless darkness. He could see himself, could see his hands, his clothes.

He was reminded, hazily, of the time when Maleficent had saved Donald, Goofy, and himself after the confrontation with Saix. Maybe he was in the Realm of Darkness? Sora cupped his hands around his mouth.

“Donald!” He yelled into the emptiness. His voice didn’t even echo – it was as if he was yelling into a void. “Goofy!”

There was no response. He tried to fight back his growing panic.

What had he been doing before this? He’d been out somewhere – not at the Tower, not back home - Radiant Garden maybe? When he closed his eyes, all he could remember was darkness. Had he been fighting heartless?

Sora extended his hand out, concentrating, and tried to summon the keyblade. Nothing appeared. The last time _this_ had happened, it had been back in Beast’s castle… with…

He closed his eyes again, and a flash of silver hair flitted through his memory. Of course – how could he have forgotten?

“Riku!” Sora called. “Riku, are you there?”

His voice fell flat again, and once more, there was no response. He shivered, hugging himself.

This was different from the Realm of Darkness. When he’d been in the Realm of Darkness, he hadn’t been alone. Wherever he was, here, it was so _cold_ and he felt so – tired. So tired if he closed his eyes and let himself, just for a moment, he was sure he’d just doze off…

“Don’t fall asleep yet you sleepyhead,” a voice, unbidden, startled Sora out of his stupor. A bright light engulfed him, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he was somewhere completely new.

He was sitting at the edge of a clocktower, overlooking the everlasting sunset of Twilight Town. For some reason the scene felt familiar to him, even though he didn’t think he’d ever seen this world from this angle before.

“Pretty nice view, huh?” Sora turned at the familiar voice.

Roxas sat next to him. He smiled at Sora’s startled expression, and held out an ice cream for him.

“Ice cream?”

Sora accepted it, taking a bite. Sweet and salty.

They ate in silence for a few moments, taking a few moments to watch the sunset. Eventually, it was Roxas who broke the silence.

“Do you remember why you’re here Sora?”

Sora frowned, closing his eyes in an attempt to recall. He’d been fighting heartless with Riku somewhere – probably Radiant Garden – but what about after that?

A flash of silver hair. A burst of panic, the grip of his keyblade in his hands. A sharp crack of pain. Then darkness. Sora touched the back of his head. He could feel the ghost of the impact.

“I…,” Sora spoke slowly with realization. “I got hurt. Fighting heartless.” He turned to Roxas. “Am I dreaming?” Roxas hummed, biting into his own ice cream.

“Yeah.” Sora shook his head.

“I’ve gotten hurt before though,” he said, flexing and unflexing his free hand. He felt perfectly fine, other then the perpetual feeling of sleepiness. “This has never happened before.”

“That’s because you’ve never been hurt this badly.” Roxas said, taking another bite. “This time, it’ll take a little more then a Curaga to get you back on your feet.”

“Oh,” Sora said, rubbing his forehead. He felt so tired. “Is it like before? Riku will come save me, like he did last time.”

Roxas opened his mouth – closed it again. Hesitation.

“It’s not like that,” he said, slowly. “The problem’s not your heart this time – it’s your body.”

Sora stared at the other boy. He seemed troubled.

“Roxas,” he said. “How badly was I hurt?”

Roxas was silent for a moment too long, his face blank.

“Sora,” Roxas said, voice quiet. “You’re dying.”

Perhaps this revelation would be more distressing if he wasn’t so tired, but sitting here, in Twilight Town, watching the sunset with Roxas - it didn’t feel real at all.

“But Roxas,” Sora put down his finished popsicle stick. “If I die, you’ll also…” Roxas nodded.

“I’ll fade,” he said. Sora shook his head vigorously.

“You can’t fade!” All Sora could think about was Axel – Lea – training tirelessly with the Keyblade, all with the single-minded goal of bringing Roxas back. “If you fade… Lea would be…”

Roxas looked startled for a moment, mouth gaping in surprise. But after a moment, he chuckled, which soon turned into outright laughter.

“Of course you’d think of something like that right now,” he laughed. Sora scowled, affronted.

“What are you talking about?” Roxas shook his head, waving his hand dismissively.

“Nothing.” Roxas took Sora’s hand in his, placing his own empty popsicle stick on his palm. On it written bold was a single word, ‘WINNER'.

Sora closed his hand around the popsicle stick, frowning.

“Don’t worry Sora. We won’t let you fall asleep so easily.”

“We?”

Roxas nodded.

“See you later.” Roxas seemed to hesitate for a moment before he added, “Tell Axel I said hi,” before he lifted both arms and shoved Sora straight off the clocktower.

* * *

 After what felt like an eternity of falling (and screaming), a hand wrapped around Sora’s wrist, stopping him in his place.

“Got you,” a voice said. He opened his eyes as his feet finally found blessed, solid ground. He hadn’t even realized he’d closed them.

He opened his eyes once again to the sight of the fading sunset – but this world was familiar. He was on Destiny Islands.

Sitting on the Paopu tree, still holding his wrist, was a girl with black hair and blue eyes. She wore the Organization’s black coat. She smiled at him, dropping Sora’s wrist when she saw that he’d found his footing.

“Hey,” Sora stared at the girl. She looked familiar – like Kairi perhaps – but he felt like he’d seen her before. “Have we met?” The girl shook her head.

“Not really,” she said. Her voice was soft, shy. It reminded him of Namine. “I’m Xion.”

“Are you…part of the Organization?” Xion shook her head.

“No. I was part of it once though.”

“Are you…friends with Roxas?” Xion smiled.

“Yes. And Axel.” Sora frowned, wracking his head trying to remember if Lea had mentioned a girl before. Xion seemed to notice his confusion.

“It’s okay. I’ve faded from their memory by now.”

“Oh.” That seemed horrible, but Xion didn’t seem fazed. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. Xion shook her head.

“It’s how it was meant to be. How’s Riku?”

“Riku?” Sora perked up – he couldn’t help it. “You know him too?”

“He helped me, once,” she looked out into the ocean horizon. “He helped me figure out where I belong.” Sora couldn’t help but grin at that.

“That sounds like the Riku I know,” Sora laughed. “He’s always there when I need him.” Xion giggled.

“You rely on Riku a lot, huh?” She asked. Sora rubbed the back his neck, laughing sheepishly.

“Is it that obvious?” He glanced at Xion. “It’s good to have friends to rely on, right?” Xion was still smiling, but she looked – envious?

“Yeah,” Xion murmured.

“Do you have friends you can rely on?”

Xion paused to think for a moment before slowly nodding.

“Yes.” She said simply. Sora left it at that, leaning back against the trunk of the Paopu tree.

“Look – the sun’s finally setting.” Sora opened his eyes at Xion’s voice. He’d closed them again, unknowingly. He rubbed his eyes tiredly before looking out into the ocean horizon. Twilight was fading, giving way to the night stars. “I never got to see this in Twilight Town.”

Xion turned to him again, and smiling, she put a hand on his shoulder.

“See you later, Sora.”

Sora closed his eyes. 

* * *

 Sora opened his eyes.

He was in a new world again. This one was unfamiliar.

This world was filled with grass covered buildings. Closest to him was a white castle with stained glass windows. Lampposts trailed along a stone paved path between the valley of two mountains. Unsure what else he should do, he followed the path.

This world felt familiar – but this time, Sora was sure he’d never stepped foot in it.  

At the end, the path gave way to a grassy clearing with a few chairs in it. Sleeping at one of the chairs was a boy, who looked just like…

“Roxas?” Sora ran forward but slowed as he was able to see the boy more fully. This boy was different – his clothes, while similar in some ways, had strange protruding armor in some places.

He approached slower, warier now as he leaned in to shake the boy’s shoulder.

The boy slowly stirred into consciousness. He yawned, stretched, and opened his eyes to focus on Sora. He really _did_ look like Roxas.

The boy’s face broke into a smile. Now _that_ didn’t look like Roxas.

“Oh! Sora.” He didn’t sound much like Roxas either. The boy pushed himself upright, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry, I fell asleep waiting for you.”

Sora stared.

“Um…” Sora rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, who are you?”

“Oh!” The boy patted the seat next to him, which Sora sat in. “I’m Ventus. You probably don’t remember me – you helped me so long ago.” Sora blinked owlishly.

“I… did?” Ventus laughed.

“It’s complicated. Don’t worry about it.” Ventus rested his chin on his palm, humming. “No need to bring up boring stuff now – I’m supposed to keep you awake after all.”

Sora pulled his knees to his chest, glancing up. The castle was distracting.

“What is this world is this?”

“Land of Departures,” Ventus said. “It’s a land of beginnings – but that inevitably ends with leaving, to a new destination. To the next adventure.” He glanced at Sora. “Fitting I guess, if you fall asleep.”

They were both quiet for a moment.

“I’m supposed to keep you awake Sora,” Ventus eventually said, apologetic, “But look.” The boy pointed towards the sky, where the stars winked down at them. Sora couldn’t remember the last time he’d sat under the stars like this. “It’s getting dark. It’ll be time to sleep soon.”

Panic gripped him – Sora clutched his chest, trying to keep it at bay. Ventus seemed to notice.

“Are you scared of the dark?” He asked.

Sora hugged his knees, thinking of Riku, and how he too teetered on the edge of it.

“Darkness isn’t too scary,” he murmured. “It just depends on who’s using it.” Ventus cocked his head.

“What if a person you trust uses it, and they use it against you?”

“Riku wouldn’t—” Sora started, but stopped quickly when he realized what he was saying. He hugged his knees tighter. “Well – he wouldn’t anymore.”

Ventus peered him for a moment, through narrowed eyes. When he seemed to find something he was looking for, he nodded.

“He wouldn’t,” Ventus agreed. “This is the guy using all his power to save you right now aftercall.”

Sora straightened to attention at the words.

“Riku? How is he? Is he hurt?” Ventus laughed.

“It’s you who was the one who was hurt Sora.”

“Yeah but – I remember now!” Sora sprang to his feet and paced, suddenly full of energy as memories seemed to rush back to him. He felt like he was seeing a hundred pictures at once. “Riku got hurt first – and I had to save him. But I ended up getting hurt too.” Sora froze in his place. Riku was going to be _so_ mad.

Ventus beamed up at Sora.

“That’s great!” He cheered. “It looks like they fixed you. Now all we have to wait for is—”

“Sora!” Sora spun around at the voice. He managed to catch a glimpse of sea glass eyes and silver hair before he was ruthlessly tackled and pulled into a bone crushing hug.

Sora laughed, a little tearful as he wrapped his arms around the familiar figure. He buried his nose in Riku’s shirt. The smell of him felt like home.

“I’m sorry,” Sora murmured. He could feel Riku’s body tremoring a little, with stress or relief, or something more. “I made you worry again.”

“You better be sorry,” Riku shot back. He sounded so relieved it broke Sora a little. “But it was my fault first. I shouldn’t have gotten caught out…” Riku trailed off at the end. Sora pulled back from the hug, just enough to see Riku’s face. It seemed like he’d caught a glimpse of Ventus.

Ventus grinned cheekily at the both of them. He raised both hands in surrender.

“Hey! Don’t worry about me!”

Riku pulled away from the hug completely, much to Sora’s disappointment. He frowned at Ventus.

“You were here last time too,” Riku said. “Who are you?”

“He’s Ventus,” Sora supplied. “He’s…”

“I’m a friend of Aqua’s.” Ventus gave a small wave. “Riku knows what I mean.”

Sora glanced at Riku, confused. His friend just nodded raising an eyebrow at Sora.

“Take better care of this guy, okay?” Ventus spoke to Riku. “He can be a bit of a blockhead sometimes.”

“Hey!”

Riku smiled, wry.

“Yeah I know.”

“Hey!”

“Let’s go Sora.” Riku reached over, wrapping Sora’s hand in his. “Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Sora nodded, hesitant, and let Riku start to drag him away. The world around them began to bleed away.

But a nagging thought made Sora stop. Riku stopped with him, looking down at Sora in confusion.

“Sora?”

Sora turned. Ventus was still behind them by the chairs, watching.

“I remember now,” Sora said. “I accepted you into my heart – you’re like Roxas aren’t you? You also have your own heart?” Ventus nodded. “I promise you – I’ll save you! You, and Roxas – and Xion too – I’m know you all have heart. You deserve to live, too!”

Riku’s hand in Sora’s tightened. “Sora – we have to go.”

Ventus blinked, looking startled at Sora’s proclamation. As the clearing began to bleed away, the chairs along with it, Ventus smiled once more.

“Thank you,” Ventus said, as he too began to fade. “See you later, Sora.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thrown right back into this fandom thanks to those trailers haha


End file.
